The structures of several antibiotics in the vancomycin class are under investigation. These antibiotics and related ones for which the structures are already known will be compared in peptide binding studies using peptides that vary in functionality and steric bulk to explore the effects of structural differences among the antibiotics on the structural specificity of the binding process. The antibiotic properties of this class of microbial metabolites depends upon their ability to complex similar peptides that constitute the cell walls of bacteria.